Fascinating trivia (and any goofs) connected with the film
- Captain C.W.R. Knight (Col. Barnstable) was a real life falconer and
trained the golden eagle "Torquil" in this film (the eagle's real name was "Mr Ramshaw and Capt. Knight toured the world with him, wrote a few books and pamphlets and appeared in a few documentaries)
- Powell and Pressburger wanted to make A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
at this time but had to wait for access to Technicolor cameras which were
all in use making US Army training films.
- Joan's itinerary says that she'll arrive in Glasgow at 6.30am but it's 7.05
by the station clock when they arrive. Trains didn't always run on time back
then either :)
- Joan takes the ferry from Oban to Tobermory, thence to
"Port Erraig" on Mull. Nowadays there is a ferry directly from
Oban to Colonsay (Kiloran).
- Emeric Pressburger wrote the whole story in 5 days.
- James Mason was originally cast as Torquil but declined
when told he would have to "live rough" in the islands.
Ironically Roger Livesey never went to the islands
because he was in a West End show at the time (Pete Ustinov's
play "Banbury Nose") and never went further North than Denham studio.
A double was used for long shots and all close ups are shot in the studio.
- Some of the shots of the whirlpool were shot by Michael Powell
himself with a hand held camera.
- Cinematographer Erwin Hillier never used a light meter
during the shooting of this movie.
- Director Michael Powell was never happy with the line
by Pamela Brown (Catriona) during the girl's chat after the
adventure in the boat.
-
Joan:
-
You can sell Erraig and Torquil could sell Kiloran.
-
Catriona:
-
Ye-es, but money isn't everything.
Powell took 22 takes, VERY rare for such a close team, but was
never happy. Many years later he told Pamela that it wasn't her
delivery that was in doubt it was the line that was wrong. He
realised after they'd finished the film that he should have had
Catriona reply "Yes, but then we'd only have the money".
Pamela then proceeded to hit him repeatedly.
- A travel book of the area produced after the war included
photos of the "famous whirlpool of Corryvreckan". It claimed
to show the only authentic picture of Corryvreckan at it's
most powerful. Michael Powell never had the heart
to tell the author that it was actually a shot from the
tank at Denham Studio and that it had cost him £40,000
to get those shots on the screen.
- Roger Livesey was told that, at almost 40, he was
too old and too portly to play Torquil. Livesey soon
managed to lose 20 pounds and altered his appearance to
play the young Lieutenant.
- The art department spent £40,000 - mainly on the tank
and the whirlpool.
- In 1947 Emeric Pressburger met the head of the script
department at Paramount who told Emeric that they used
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) as an example of the
perfect screenplay which was shown to any writers stuck
for inspiration or who needed a lesson in screen writing.
- The driver of the bus to Tobermory was Neil MacKechnie. The
bus was run by Cowes the then owners of the
MacDonald Arms Hotel in Tobermory.
- The dance music in Manchester was performed by Phil Green and his orchestra
- In the opening credits, as the factory gate swings shut the top bar on it is partially obscured by the hanging miniature that adds another floor to the factory - which is really the front offices of Denham Studios.
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